Thursday 20 December 2012

I’m sure in previous years December was always a quiet month, but this year it has been anything but, and it is only now that I am feeling it’s time to wind down a little and focus on Christmas and family.

This week started with our council carol service at St. Mary the Virgin Church in Marlborough on Monday evening. It was a lovely service and the children from St. Peter’s Junior School made the evening so enjoyable with their wonderful singing and belleplate ringing. Many of our partners attended and it was good to welcome the lord lieutenant, Sarah Troughton and the new police commissioner, Angus Macpherson. My grateful thanks to Jean Potter for organising the service and the refreshments that followed. It was a very Chrsitmassy evening.

On Tuesday the appointments committee met to discuss the integration of public health and the decision taken by cabinet on 6 November to integrate the roles of the corporate director with statutory responsibility for adult social services and the joint director of public health, to create one corporate director post with joint statutory responsibility for adult social services and public health. The committee agreed to appoint Maggie Rae in the new corporate director post. I would like to extend my personal congratulations to Maggie and it will be good to see her former role as joint director for public health integrated with adult social care services. The staff employment subcommittee also met on Tuesday and agreed to accept Sue Redmond’s application for voluntary redundancy. I am sure I speak on behalf of the organisation in wishing Sue well for the future and thanking her for all her hard work throughout the six years she spent at the council and for her commitment in delivering the innovative help to live at home project that allows older people to stay in their own homes for longer.

Cabinet also met this week and agreed to reduce the number of streets lights at certain times in appropriate locations across the county. The reduction follows a successful trial and will save us around £380,000 each year. Cabinet also approved the new contractor for highways and streetscene; Balfour Beatty Living Places has been awarded one contract to deal with winter weather, drainage and bridges (currently provided by four different organisations). This is a huge contract (worth around £150m) to provide these key front line services for the next five years.

On the same day as this contract was awarded the government announced Wiltshire would receive £3.6m of additional funding for highways maintenance split over the next two years as part of a drive to improve transport infrastructure across England. This is a very welcome Christmas bonus.

And talking of Christmas, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very good break and a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. Those of you who are having some time off please enjoy a well earned break and to those of you who are keeping the critical front line services running through the holiday period, thank you very much. Your work is really appreciated.

This has been an incredible year which couldn’t have been achieved without your hard work and commitment. I’m almost a little sad to leave 2012 behind, but I’m also excited to move forward into 2013 and to tackle the challenges that the New Year will bring. I’m looking forward to creating a lasting legacy and working with communities to keep the unique energy and drive of this year alive. In January, I will be out in our local market towns talking to people about the council and what they feel we do well but, more importantly, where we can do better and I am looking forward to hearing their views on where we should be spending more money and where we should spend less.

Stay safe, be happy and look forward to seeing you all after the Christmas break.

Jane.

 Ps my next blog will be published on 11 January 2013.

Friday 14 December 2012

I think I may be turning into a mince pie! You know its Christmas when every meeting you attend there are mince pies on offer and you feel it’s rude not to have one, or to offer one to those attending.

This week has been another week of meetings and it started with a press briefing to discuss the items that will be considered by cabinet next week. This included the new highways and street scene contract which will be awarded to a new contractor based on price and quality, a report that proposes reducing the number of street lights that can be turned off at off-peak times to save energy and money and reduce light pollution, and an update of the council’s budget position eight months into the financial year. It’s important we review the budget at each cabinet, as the pressures and demand on some of our services has meant we need to review what we are spending in other areas. The key pressures are in children’s services as there is a national increase, which is reflected in Wiltshire, in the number of children coming into care. The media were interested in why this is the case and whilst we don’t have clear evidence, we believe it is linked to the current economic situation and the impact this is having on many families. Meeting the local media also provided an opportunity to discuss the new Healthwatch Board and our search for a chair and four members to be the champions and voice for users of health and social care services in the county. The board will be the watchdog for these services and is part of the integration of health into the council. The advert for these roles is on the website www.wiltshire.gov.uk/localhealthwatch and we are looking for people with energy, enthusiasm and the ability to speak on behalf of users and to help shape future services.

I attended Calne and Melksham area boards this week and I have been so pleased by the reaction of the area boards that I have attended since September, which is almost all of them. They have all been so positive about the events and impact of this unique year. There is so much enthusiasm to keep the momentum going and to create a lasting legacy for our county. I’m looking forward to working with the communities next year and delivering lots of events and activities. I have to say that Melksham looked wonderful with all their Christmas lights and the board was attended by lots of young people who were recently recognised for the work they do in their local communities, clubs and schools at a special young people’s awards ceremony.

The Wiltshire Assembly was held in Salisbury on Wednesday and the focus was inspiring young people and building on the momentum of 2012 and Jon Hubbard talked about the successful Young People’s Awards that I have just referred to. It would be so good to see if these awards could take place in other areas as we need to recognise and celebrate our wonderful young people.

There was a great range of speakers at the Assembly including Debbie Flood, Olympic silver

medallist and World Championship gold medallist rower who talked about her experience

and drive to reach the top in her chosen sport. We also focused on apprenticeships and

heard from Luke, an engineering apprentice at QinetiQ, and his experience of the workplace

and the support of the company he is training with.

Angus Macpherson, the newly elected Police Crime Commissioner also attended along with many other partners and it was good to see such positive and lively networking. The assembly provides a great opportunity to bring everyone together and to discuss what’s happening in Wiltshire.

Yesterday I met the team at the Chippenham depot and it’s always good to hear how things are for our front line staff and to provide an opportunity for questions. In the evening I was invited to present awards to Wiltshire’s Diving Club in Trowbridge. I was extremely impressed by the skill and dedication of the divers and definitely think we could have a future Tom Daley in Wiltshire.

And finally, as a small thank you, I have arranged for chocolates (not mince pies!) to be delivered to all the hubs, from myself and the leadership team. This year has been exceptional and so have all of you. Thank you for your support and commitment to providing the very best for the people of Wiltshire.

Jane

Friday 7 December 2012

Well it’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...seeing the Christmas tree in the atrium at County Hall and singing carols with many of you and members of the public at the first carol service held in this great community space on Wednesday lunchtime reminded me that Christmas is only just over two weeks away!

I’d like to say that things are winding down as we run up to the seasonal break, but it feels like anything but as this week has been another busy one and again so varied.

I started the week talking to new staff at our regular induction sessions. I always enjoy these as they provide a great opportunity to talk to people who have chosen to work for our council and to discuss not just what we do but, how we do things.  These sessions are always uplifting and there were some great questions about working in a council and a political environment. It was also good to see more than 160 of you at the final session, in this autumn round of manager and staff forums, in Devizes. I find the forums provide me with a great insight into how things are for you and how we are doing, and I am always keen to ensure that plenty of time is allocated for questions and comments. We do record all your questions, comments and ideas as these are valuable in helping the organisation to move forward. I understand that these will be published soon and that the corporate leadership team will consider actions and progressing ideas based on your feedback. In my view this is vital to moving the council forward and I hope those of you who attended the forums found them useful and informative. In such a large organisation it is a challenge to keep everyone informed and involved and I welcome your views and ideas on what more we can do.

I am looking forward to seeing the teams at the Chippenham and Salisbury depots in the next two weeks and hearing how things are for them. 

We’re almost at the end of an extraordinary year, which was such a success for our communities and county. I have always said that the focus now has to be creating a lasting legacy that keeps this year’s momentum alive and I am pleased to say that we have had early conversations regarding the possibility of the Tour De France coming to Wiltshire in 2017. This will be a major event and will mean a huge amount of planning and partnership working, but following this year we now have a template to follow and we have built strong relationships with our key partners so we are keen to see if we can make this happen. I will keep you updated on the progress on this...

And talking of building great partnerships; this year has been a good one for working with Salisbury City and I was so pleased to be invited to attend the Mayor’s Christmas reception on Wednesday evening, along with many local business representatives. The reception provided an opportunity for the Mayor to talk about events next year and he highlighted our support for the Big Business event which will host Karen Brady (from The Apprentice) as the key note speaker. We need to keep boosting the local economy and I am delighted that we will partner the City Council on this event.

Yesterday I spent most of the day talking economy and growth as I attended the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership) held at Knorr Bremse in Melksham, one of the successful Wiltshire companies providing braking systems for the global rail industry.  I enjoyed a short tour of the building after the meeting; it’s always good to see the economy in action. Later I also attended a reception at Hartham Park to hear about the Bath University’s plans in Corsham. This will be a great boost to the county and will encourage business growth for the future.

I’m also looking forward to the Wiltshire Assembly next week, which is focused on inspiring

young people. We have some great speakers lined up and a full day including our key note

speaker Debbie Flood, Olympic silver medallist and World Championship gold medallist

rower. More about the Assembly in next week’s blog.

Jane.